It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Quotes
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCThe first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
—George Borrow, 1843A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.
—Hannah Arendt, 1958I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BCThe spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882